Friday, 25 May, GALLIPOLI (Italy): Quinten Bossche will kick-start the defence of his world title starting from pole position in Moto 1 at the UIM-ABP Aquabike Grand Prix of Italy in Gallipoli.

 

The young Belgian rider eased into this weekend’s activities running just one lap in morning practice and posting a time of 1:59.26s, stepping it up a gear in Q1 in qualifying to top the time sheets with a best lap of 1:56.26s and then went into to overdrive to seal pole position with a blistering lap of 1:51.29s, the only rider to break 1:52s.

 

France’s Raphael Maurin, the defending European Champion, locked out P2 in both sessions, the time that counted 2.25s adrift of the pole sitter.

 

Kevin Reiterer made a solid start on his debut outing for Dubai’s Victory Team, the Austrian going third quickest in a time 1:53:84s, with France’s two-time world champion Mickael Poret taking on all the Kawasaki riders almost single-handedly on his Bullett V2 and going fourth quickest.

 

The battle to seal the remaining two top six slots was an all Norwegian affair with Ulrik Berntsen posting a time of 1:58.39s to edge world ranked number 1 Stian Schjetlein by 0.14s.

 

For full classifications:

https://www.aquabike.net/results